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ChaPter 3 • ProjeCt management 87

CONSULTING OPPORTUNITY 3.5

Goal Tending

“Here’s what I think we can accomplish in the next five “But seriously, these goals are killers. You could have at least
weeks,” says Hy, the leader of your systems analysis team, as he asked us what we thought, Hy. We may even know better than
confidently pulls out a schedule listing each team member’s name you what’s possible.”
alongside a list of short-term goals. Just a week ago, your systems “This is a pressing problem, not a tea party, Fiona,” Hy
analysis team went through an intense meeting on expediting the replies. “Polite polling of team members was out of the ques-
project schedule for the Kitchener Redwings, an Ontario hockey tion. Something had to be done quickly. So I went ahead with
organization whose management is pressuring you to produce a these. I say we submit our schedule to management based on
prototype. this. We can push back deadlines later if we have to. But this
The three other members of the team look at the chart in sur- way, they’ll know we’re committed to accomplishing a lot
prise. Finally, one of the members, Rip, speaks: “I’m in shock. We during the off-season.”
each have so much to do as it is—and now this.” As a fourth team member listening to the foregoing
Hy replies defensively, “We’ve got to aim high, Rip. They’re in exchange, formulate three suggestions that would help Hy
the off-season. It’s the only time to get them. If we set our goals too improve his approach to goal formation and presentation.
low, we won’t finish the system prototype, let alone the system itself, How well motivated do you think the team will be if they
before another hockey season passes. The idea is to give the Kitchener share Fiona’s view of Hy’s goals? What are the possible
Redwings the fighting edge through the use of their new system.” ramifications of supplying management with overly optimistic
Fiona, another team member, enters the discussion, saying, goals? Write one paragraph devoted to short-term effects and
“Goodness knows their players can’t give them that!” She pauses another one discussing the long-term effects of setting unreal-
for the customary groan from the assembled group, then continues. istically high goals.

productivity rises, however, it is becoming clear that managerial productivity must keep pace. It
is with this aim in mind that productivity goals for the systems analysis team are set.
A team needs to formulate and agree to goals, and these goals should be based on team mem-
bers’ expertise and former performance, as well as the nature of the specific project. Goals will
vary somewhat for each project undertaken because sometimes an entire system will be installed,
whereas other projects might involve limited modifications to a portion of an existing system.

Motivating Project Team Members
Although motivation is an extremely complex topic, it is a good one to consider, even if briefly,
at this point. To oversimplify, recall that people join organizations to provide for some of their
basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter. All humans, however, also have higher-level
needs, including affiliation, control, independence, and creativity. People are motivated to fulfill
unmet needs on several levels.
Team members can be motivated, at least partially, through participation in goal setting, as
described in the previous section. The very act of setting a challenging but achievable goal and
then periodically measuring performance against the goal seems to work in motivating people.
Goals act almost as magnets in attracting people to achievement.
Part of the reason goal setting motivates people is that team members know prior to any
performance review exactly what is expected of them. The success of goal setting for motivating
can also be ascribed to it, affording each team member some autonomy in achieving the goals.
Although a goal is predetermined, the means to achieve it may not be. In this instance team
members are free to use their own expertise and experience to meet their goals.
Setting goals can also motivate team members by clarifying for them and others what must
be done to get results. Team members are also motivated by goals because goals define the level
of achievement that is expected of them. This use of goals simplifies the working atmosphere,
and it also electrifies it with the possibility that what is expected can indeed be done.

Managing Ecommerce Projects
Many of the approaches and techniques discussed so far in this chapter are transferable to ecom-
merce project management. You should be cautioned, however, that although there are many